NATURE ABHORS a vacuum. So apparently, does Motorola. But
the big electronics maker could do more to fill it, says Garry Haltof. The Rochester, N.Y. designer has plugged a hole he
sees among accessories available for Motorola's bestselling Flip Phone, a
pocket phone known as the MicroTAC. Mr. Haltof says there's no
good-looking, well functioning cradle for people simply want to hang up
their Flip Phone in their car. A Motorola spokesman says this want "was
anticipated from the beginning," and he points to Flip cradles set atop
Motorola power amplifiers and hands-free dialing devices, both for the
car. Mr. Haltof replies that the company over-looked the degree to which
people also would want to use the Flip in their automobile. As a result, he says, Motorola has nothing to offer
for simple Flip Phone parking besides a cradle robbed form on top of one
of its hands-free boxes. Trouble is, Mr. Haltof adds, this jury-rig is too
large, awkward and homely. Mr. Haltof hopes to bring his own cradle, which he
calls the Flip Clip, to market by February. The $25 molded-plastic and
rubber device is screwed into a car dashboard. Mr. Haltof has already sold
a few through a store in Rochester. Rocco Vivenzio, a physician in
Penfield, N.Y., says his Flip Clip holds his Flip Phone firmly, but not
too firmly, on the jiggly dash of his four-wheel-drive pickup. But Robert Schmacher, vise president at Gemini
Industries, a Clifton, N.J., maker of cellular phone accessories, doubts
there will be a large market for the Clip. "Most people are looking for a
hands-free kit," he says.